MovieChat Forums > The Fundamentals of Caring (2016) Discussion > Selena Gomez as Runaway Hitchhiker? No.....

Selena Gomez as Runaway Hitchhiker? No...

posted 8 years ago by tamtle
7 replies | jump to latest

I did enjoy this film, but some scenes were not realistic, like Selena Gomez, a cute girl, hitching a ride across country. They would find her body in the woods a few months later. And also the pregnant dopey woman (who was a fun character), they would find her body in the river a few months later. Getting into a stranger's car is very dangerous, even if there is a person in a wheelchair as a passenger. I hope young girls watching this film will not follow Selena's character and get into anyone's car. And I hope pregnant moms don't think it's okay too. Other than that, the film was very heart warming.

[–] Stovepipe99 7 years ago

Not everyone who hitchhikes gets murdered. Not everyone who picks up hitchhikers is a murderer.

I've had two times in my life (as a woman--once in my early 20s and once in my early 30s) where circumstances compelled me to get into a car alone with a stranger. One, just like pregnant Peaches, was car related.

If you have the resources to get out of a situation without depending on a stranger, that's awesome. I was trapped on the side of a mountain, no cell reception, in the middle of a surprise storm that was getting worse and worse. The sun was going down. I was wearing work clothes (not high heels, but not shoes made for winter weather, either). There was no sidewalk (of course), and not even really much of a shoulder. If I'd tried to walk to get help, the odds of me falling and hurting myself or of being struck by a car seemed really high.

I agree with you that it's not a great idea to hitchhike--really for anyone, but especially for people who are more vulnerable. But sometimes there are people who will help you out of kindness. I was lucky that the two different men who helped me were just good citizens. The Selena Gomez character was hitchhiking in a smart way--she wasn't on the side of the road--she was standing out in front of places with a lot of people around. And the Peaches character--I'm not sure what you think her options were.

[–] tamtle 7 years ago

I understand what you're saying. But Gomez character should not go cross country riding with up to 40 men, strangers, to get to her final destination. I think the screenwriter was stretching a lot to carry the story forward. Law of statistics would catch up with her, and good Samaritans will run out, and her body will be found somewhere dark, like in a storage container.

Also, for Peaches, if she's late into her third trimester, she should not be travelling long distance with a junk car. And driving solo, with no cell phone, or back-up plan. She was sweet and all, but lucky. Let me mansplain something to you, pregnant women will plan out their entire nine month of pregnancy to the last labor day. So again, I think the screenwriters were forcing the scene to carry the story forward, which made it not realistic. Having said that, i enjoyed the movie, and I guess nitpicking a little.

[–] Stovepipe99 7 years ago

There are a lot of things that people "should not" do, and it's really easy to judge them for it. But the reality of life is that sometimes we are forced to take risks. For all we know, the Gomez character has only been taking rides from women up to the point she meets Ben and Trevor.

Peaches isn't driving across the country on a whim or for fun. Her husband is abroad and if she had a supportive network of friends/family where she was, I'm sure she wouldn't be traveling cross-country.

Allow me to womansplain something to you: yes, women do plan out their pregnancies down to the tiniest detail. But just because you plan something does not mean it goes that way. Little things like a surprise deployment, or the loss of a job, or the onset of depression can force people to make drastic changes to things they'd formerly thought were etched in stone. Would you want to go through the experience (both emotional and physical) of birthing your first child with no one there to support you? Maybe Peaches was okay with that in theory, but as the reality of it approached she got overwhelmed.

Who says she has no cell phone? She was pretty clear with Ben that the problem was that she couldn't afford to fix the car--and possibly couldn't even afford to have it towed. If Peaches had more money, she could have afforded to fly her mother out. Do just a little bit of research into what health care is like for pregnant women in incredibly rural places (especially in the southwest), and you might understand better why a woman would risk driving herself halfway across the country to be with her mother.

I know that this post sounds bristly, but I think it's really easy to say "That character shouldn't do XYZ," without thinking about why that character might take that action. There were unrealistic parts to the movie, but the hitch-hiking/ride share from the two women wasn't one of them. Just my two cents.

[–] tamtle 7 years ago

I like you Stove. I appreciate your two cents. I appreciate your womansplaining of circumstances of pregnancies. Afterall, we do hear about women giving births in back of cars, elevators, etc. because they didn't plan accordingly, putting the baby at risk. Babies can die and mothers can die also through infections and such. It's high risk, don't you think?

As for Gomez's character, she's a cute girl with a cute little body, so more likely, she would approach men to give her rides. Women will not pick up female hitchhikers, because they know the drama behind the crazy, demented person, and don't want to get involved and also chance the danger. So it's still a stretch for the girl to safely go across country. I'm glad her dad was following her and watching over her, but the danger was real and imminent.

The movie gave me the feels, so I'm glad I watched it. Just don't like little distractions that take me away from the film.

[–] Stovepipe99 7 years ago

Afterall, we do hear about women giving births in back of cars, elevators, etc. because they didn't plan accordingly, putting the baby at risk.

Um, sometimes women give birth in cars/elevators because pregnancy is a crazy, unpredictable event in your life. My brother was almost born in the back of a car, and it was not at all due to a lack of planning on the part of my parents--it had to do with doctors that told them not to come in to the hospital until my mother's contractions had gotten to a certain point, then the labor speeding up suddenly.

I can only speak to the birth stories of my family and friends, but it seems like about two-thirds of them go basically as planned, but a solid one-third experience something out of left field or unexpected. Babies can come way early or they can arrive way late. In order to "plan accordingly", women would basically have to stay within a stone's throw of a hospital for like 5 weeks of their lives. That's just not realistic for a woman whose husband is abroad and who doesn't seem to have a support network where she's living. This does not make them bad people who put their babies at risk. In fact, birth is always a risk. There are women who have "perfect" deliveries that go just as planned and die of complications anyway.

Women will not pick up female hitchhikers, because they know the drama behind the crazy, demented person, and don't want to get involved and also chance the danger.

Like . . . says who? On what are you basing this assertion? Do you know women who talk about not picking up other women? I'm generally wary of any stranger getting into my car, but I'd be much more likely to pick up a female hitchhiker than a male one.

I agree that her character hitchhiking was not the safest move.

[–] tamtle 7 years ago

you're right that giving birth could be anywhere at anytime, and being male, I don't know nothing about no birthing no babies, especially in a parking lot by some guy having a mid-life crisis. And he was successful only to forward the story and redeem himself for loss of his son, using metaphor of "recent death sorrow = creating new life". So even there, it was forced to reach a character resolution. But delivering a baby in a parking lot...no.

I don't have any data regarding women picking up hitchhikers, but logic would tell me that most women don't. If they pick up men, then they will die. If they pick up women, then they will die also. Men will pick up women hitchhikers because the rule-of-the-road, is that the female hitchhiker will return a sexual favor. So therefore, men will chance the danger while women will not.

I think the screenwriter could have spent more time on the script, so that the movie would have seen a major theatrical release, versus indie status.

[–] Stovepipe99 7 years ago

I agree that the delivery scene was totally unrealistic--like cringe-worthy unrealistic.

But this:

If they pick up men, then they will die. If they pick up women, then they will die also.

This is just silly.